Recall that diplomatically speaking, she can cheat. While others need a Treecat to taste emotions, Honor can do it without Nimitz. Pretty soon most people in the know will recognize that Treecats are living lie detectors. Very few will know that Honor has that capability as well.

Given that skillset, I doubt either of her Liege Lord/Lady will eschew handing her all the toughest diplomatic hand grenades. Panache and style are well and good, but completely successful is much better.

robert132 wrote:

cthia wrote:Well ok, I can run with that. But I absolutely have to draw the line at any proposed beautiful reality truths of any chia pet.

Honor will have so much to offer for so long. In the capacity of instructor, she'd be invaluable shaping little Honorettes in the manner that Admiral Courvosier shaped her. In memory of the Admiral, I imagine it'd also do her mind some good.

Those at the top could spread out to do a stint at Sag Isle themselves and also spread out even further to assist or to annoy Hemphill sitting in on the WDB.

There is that and I can also see BOTH of her Liege Lords, Queen Elizabeth and Protector Benjamin (and his eventual successor) taking shameless advantage of her abilities as a diplomatic troubleshooter or Special Ambassador much like ADM Courvosier was in HotQ, she gets handed the hottest potatoes and being "The Salamander" handles them with panache and style.

With all the advantages of Prolong and one of the highest standards of medical care available in the known galaxy, unless something very untoward happens (RFC forbid) she will be around for a very long time, leaving her indelible mark on history.

My deepest desire for Uncompromising Honor is an e-Arc as soon as it has been reviewed by editors. David mentioned that he will turn in the manuscript at the end of June. That means an e-Arc may be available pretty darn soon.

Considering that the book is due to be handed in "at the end of June" and that passed already, an eArc really early would really be appreciated by all of us.

After all, if we're going to wait a year (and I deeply resent that but what can you do?), why not let us see it a little earlier? Also, that would be a real incentive for the eArc. Instead of three months early, wouldn't it be nice for a six month hedge...or nine months?

Here's something to chew on. I'd like to see RFC tackle another story of forbidden love, as I so thoroughly enjoyed the one he presented us with in Eloise and Javier. (ode to rose)

What do you all think of Protector Benjamin taking on an additional wife, after helplessly falling in love with a woman that doesn't exactly gel with the other wives - yet, love is love. Catfight!

Is there anything preventing Protector Benjamin from taking on Abby as a wife?

Is there anything preventing Steadholder Hearns from marrying Rachel Mayhew and the possible ensuing tension between Abigail and Rachel?

Is there anything preventing Benjamin from taking on a bonded wife from the Star Empire, causing animosity between the Grayson wives and the foreign wife who is bonded—which places her cat and the Mayhews' cats in a very peculiar predicament—at odds.

<What do we do? We've never been confused regarding allegiance>

<This is some of that two-leg weirdness called a domestic dispute. We should stay out of it>

What a pickle.

Treecats would never be at odds in such a way. Such a situation would be akin to a treecat joining the clan of its spouse and being forced to contend with disapproval. Yet time and again, RFC has written that on such issues, the "People" have devised social norms that preclude such behavior that could potentially damage relationships within the clan or that could cause a clan to get whipped up in a dangerous murderous frenzy. Moreover, the treecats are known to chastise their respective humans for sulking and whining, and to serve as a stabilizing influence over them. The real downsides are where relationships with other humans are concerned, i.e. when a human always knows there is one creature in the universe that loves them unreservedly and is completely trustworthy, they are loathe to risk the heartache involved in romantic relationships. "Especially lovers, with their bottomless capacity to hurt them." (-- The Short Victorious War). So trying to force a relationship like that into the Mayhew household artificially would strain credulity.

And I noticed that none of the idea you proposed here involved Honor directly (or even indirectly). As I said before, there is no where upward for the character to rise to personally. Everything from here on out can only be the characters around her or supporting characters that are elevated to main characters - Like Rafael Cardones and Ginger Lewis.

PeterZ wrote:Recall that diplomatically speaking, she can cheat. While others need a Treecat to taste emotions, Honor can do it without Nimitz. Pretty soon most people in the know will recognize that Treecats are living lie detectors. Very few will know that Honor has that capability as well.

Given that skillset, I doubt either of her Liege Lord/Lady will eschew handing her all the toughest diplomatic hand grenades. Panache and style are well and good, but completely successful is much better.

robert132 wrote:There is that and I can also see BOTH of her Liege Lords, Queen Elizabeth and Protector Benjamin (and his eventual successor) taking shameless advantage of her abilities as a diplomatic troubleshooter or Special Ambassador much like ADM Courvosier was in HotQ, she gets handed the hottest potatoes and being "The Salamander" handles them with panache and style.

With all the advantages of Prolong and one of the highest standards of medical care available in the known galaxy, unless something very untoward happens (RFC forbid) she will be around for a very long time, leaving her indelible mark on history.

Peter, her ability to "taste" the mindglows of others is one of the factors I was considering in my comments, so we are of like minds on the subject.

And I intended "panache and style" in the sense of the successful completion of the task, making the impossible look easy.

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Just my opinion of course and probably not worth the paper it's not written on.

Didn't think we disagreed as much as interpreted "panache and style" differently. Those terms had me thinking of her handling of that coward Houseman. THAT truly was handled with panache and style. Even left the worthless sod breathing to boot!

Combining my understanding of your panache and style with her mental skills and she becomes an adamant one fist in a beautifully thin velvet glove neither of her monarchs would leave in their closet.

PeterZ wrote:Didn't think we disagreed as much as interpreted "panache and style" differently. Those terms had me thinking of her handling of that coward Houseman. THAT truly was handled with panache and style. Even left the worthless sod breathing to boot!

Combining my understanding of your panache and style with her mental skills and she becomes an adamant one fist in a beautifully thin velvet glove neither of her monarchs would leave in their closet.

Absolutely!

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Just my opinion of course and probably not worth the paper it's not written on.